Today’s Used Car Values Have Jumped Up

Used Car Prices Skyrocketing Again
So, what the heck is going on with used car prices? Remember, back in 2019 and 2020, used car values spiked through the roof and they stayed high for a number of years. The last couple of years, it seemed like they trailed off a little bit. They didn’t actually go down, but they weren’t quite as dramatic. Well, in the last 30 to 60 days, we are seeing used car values again go through the roof. And here’s why: there are auto manufacturers and dealers who are expecting tariffs to affect not only the price but the supply of new vehicles.

The Tariff Effect on Dealer Behavior
What that does is put pressure on dealers and even buyers to try to get their vehicle purchases done before the tariffs start to raise prices. That’s putting a leading indicator on used vehicle values. So, if you have a vehicle that is a car you’re looking to trade in, now might be the time to do it.

Good Time To Buy or Trade
If you’re looking to buy a car and you think the prices will go up in the coming months, you might want to move up that purchase to a sooner date. More importantly, if you have a vehicle where you have an upside-down equity or negative equity scenario, you might want to look at seeing if the values have changed. Even if the dealer offered you, let’s say, $20,000 for your car a month or two ago, it might be worth $21,000 or $22,000, which could knock a couple thousand off of your negative equity situation to get you able to get rid of that vehicle, trade it in, and do a lien release.

Learn More & Stay Updated
If you have more questions about how to get a lien release or how to transact a short sale on a vehicle, the used car market is dramatically different even this week versus what it was a month ago. And if you have any kind of activity planned for a used vehicle—buying one, selling one, trading one in, or doing a broker deal—you might want to take another look at the scenario to see if it’s different than the last time you checked.

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How Do Court Ordered Titles Work For Vehicles

Court Order Title
So, what is a court order title and the process of trying to solve your title problem? You may have heard this term come up. It may have even been said to you by the Department of Motor Vehicles. Look, if you go to the DMV trying to get a title and you don’t have the right paperwork, they’re going to tell you that either they just can’t give you one or they might tell you about other options. In some states, one of the options is a bonded title. And that’s something we’ve talked about before.

Bonded Title vs. Court Order Title
But in every state, every county, you can do a court ordered title. So what is it? Well, it’s a process where when the DMV is unable to give you a title because of the fact that your paperwork is deficient, and when I say deficient, I mean you don’t have a title. So unless you have the last legal title signed over to you on the back from the last owner, the DMV is not allowed to give you a title. No DMV in the country can give you a title with just a bill of sale. A bill of sale is just a receipt from somebody that took your money. It doesn’t mean any kind of ownership. So a bill of sale, even though it sounds official, is not sufficient for a government agency to hand you a title. So, a lot of times they’ll tell you, look, if you want us to help you get a court order title, now sometimes this is called a declaratory judgment or a magistrate title or some other term, but it’s a process, legal process offered by the government. Nothing illegitimate about it. It’s perfectly good. In fact, many times the DMV will tell you to do this if they can’t help you.

Legal Standing and Definition
So, what are the details? Well, here’s a brief overview. It’s so popular now, so common that it has an official reference in Google AI. Google AI overview says a court-ordered title is a legal document, there you go, declaratory judgment issued by a court that directs a DMV or similar agency to issue a title to a person. So, if the DMV can’t give you a title because of their own rules, you can override that by getting a declaratory judgment from the court.

When a Court Order Title Is Used
The order is requested when a title is missing, damaged, or when there’s a dispute over ownership. That’s why it’s used. Here’s some more details. When a court order title might be necessary: missing or damaged title. If you bought a car and didn’t get a title when you purchased it, this is the perfect scenario to use a court order title. It can facilitate the issuance. Think about that word facilitate. If you’ve been getting the runaround from DMV or they’re not giving you straight answers or they’re giving you a hard time, it’ll facilitate it.

Legal Disputes and Title Problems
It’ll solve the problem. If there’s any legal disputes. This is usually not the case, but if there’s a divorce or legal dispute where ownership is contested, a court order can resolve the ownership. This is a lot of times the case when there is a lien on the vehicle and there’s a dispute over whether the lien is owed, or whether the lien is in somebody else’s name. It can take a lien off a vehicle as well. Unresolved title issues, discrepancy, or issue with the existing title. If it cannot be resolved directly with the DMV, a court order can override that.

Missing Title or No Title Scenario
Vehicle with no current title. A vehicle might be acquired without a title. A court order can be obtained to rectify the situation. That’s 99% of what people do. What are the steps? Now, keep in mind that every county is a little different. This is done through the county court. It’s not done through the state. So, there’s 3,611 counties in the country. Every county is going to do it differently. First, you have to start with a petition. Petition outlining the reason you need a court order.

Supporting Documents and Affidavits
You have to give supporting documents. Many times that would be a declaration of interest, an affidavit of facts, and other documents.

No Pre-Made Forms or Instructions
Now, here’s the problem. You can’t just walk into the court and say, “Hey, I want to do a court order title. What do I do?” First of all, they can’t give you instructions. Second of all, there are no pre-made forms that the court has for you just to fill in. And that is the biggest problem for a lot of people. What do you do? First of all, there’s no instruction. Second of all, there’s no preconstructed forms.

Why Forms Aren’t Available
Why is that? Well, think about it. That court is going to hear a thousand cases in a month. Every case is going to be different. One is my neighbor’s dog bit me. The other one is the guy down the street built the fence too high. The next one is a divorce. The next one is a small claims. Right? If they had a form for every possible type of case that would come across their desk, there would be thousands of forms. They don’t have that. You have to create the document from scratch about what you want to have happen. See what it says right here? Outlining the reason you need a court order. So, you have to come up with that language.

Example Document Package
So this is an example of a court order title package. These are the documents that are created for the court. Again, this is not something the court has a form for. You have to type it up from scratch. Now, our website, cartitles.com, will give you some suggestions on how to do it. Every county is a little different, but it’ll give you some basic instructions. We also have some videos on our channel that will give you more details on it.

Documents and Court Requirements
Supporting documents. You might need a bill of sale for that. Usually not. Photos of the vehicle, usually not. Usually, they do want a picture of the VIN number proving you’re in possession of the vehicle. It says in some cases you have to go to court. We almost never hear that. We do thousands of these on a regular basis. We almost never hear that the court wants you to be in court. Remember, this is an administrative process.

Administrative Case Explained
This is not like what you see on Law and Order where Jack McCoy is doing this big court case with a hearing and lawyers and juries. This is not that kind of case. It’s an administrative case where the court, the judge will look at the records, make sure the vehicle is not stolen, make sure it’s not a salvage or parts vehicle, and they give you step four which is a court order directing the DMV to issue a title. Once you get that, then you have to file it with the DMV. And that’s the other side of this package. You see, here’s the court paperwork, here’s the DMV paperwork. So, you get this first, then you file it with the DMV.

What to Include in Your Package
The key documents and forms. You’re going to need the petition or complaint. You’re going to need an affidavit of facts. You’re going to need a declaration of interest and an application for title. We recommend that when you send the information to the court, notice I said send, not bring. You don’t want to bring this package to the court. We’ll talk about that in another video or our website will explain why you don’t want to bring it there.

Court Might File for You
When you send it to the court, put the title application in that package, too. Even though that’s for the DMV. Sometimes the court will do you a favor and just file it directly with the DMV. Sometimes they won’t. They’ll just send it back to you signed and then you have to file it. But at least if you give them the opportunity, they might do that for you. So hopefully that gives you some information on the court order title process.

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The Government Can Help Regulate Your Car Loan Balance

Understanding Excessive Automotive Charges
So, what are some things that you can do to combat excessive automotive charges? If you’ve purchased a vehicle from a dealer, many times there were add-ons and things tacked on to your loan that were not proper. Maybe added on by the dealer, maybe added on by the lender. Where did that put you? That may have put you in a position where you owe more on that car than it’s worth. You have negative equity. You have upside down, underwater—they call it different things. Basically, what it means is you owe more on that car than it’s actually worth. End of story. And it makes you buried in that car where you can’t get out of it. You can’t sell it. You can’t trade it in. The way dealers refer to it, they say you have a firm grip on that car. You can’t let go of that car. And that could be a problem for you. Maybe your payment’s too high. Maybe that car no longer suits your needs. Maybe you need a truck to haul things and you have a car. Maybe you have a sedan and you need a van because now you have kids. There are a lot of reasons why you need to get out of that car.

FTC’s Role in Car Purchase Protection
So, what does the FTC say about this? The FTC is a government agency called the Federal Trade Commission. They have a cars rule that requires certain things to happen on a purchase. And if it didn’t happen, you may have some recourse. And this is one of the things that we look at when we do a car short sale. You can take a look at the link below for more information about doing car short sale services and the instructions. But basically, this is from the FTC. This is a bulletin that’s a guide for car dealers. It tells dealers what to do and what not to do. And it has that in the guide. So remember, this is an insider internal guide for car dealers to know what they have to do. And a lot of times they don’t do this. It lays out principles to protect people shopping for cars and trucks—practices that are already business as usual for honest dealers.

Dealer Conduct and FTC Guidelines
Here are the practices. It prohibits misrepresentations. It requires dealers to clearly disclose the price, the actual price you can pay to get the car. It’s illegal—this is important—to charge consumers for add-ons that don’t provide a benefit. You probably have add-ons on your finance contract that didn’t provide you any benefit. You also have to get express informed consent before charging for anything. There are probably things you were charged for that you did not give consent for, especially informed consent. They may have put something in front of you.

Examples of Violations That Could Offer Recourse
So, let’s take a look at a couple of basic examples of what these types of problems could be for the dealer that could give you recourse. So, here is a more detailed breakdown of those four things. It prohibits misrepresentation. It makes it illegal for a dealer to make misrepresentations about topics that would affect consumers’ buying choices. So, when you bought your vehicle, were you misrepresented about things that were important for you to know about your buying choice? Deceptive claims about price, financing, or add-ons are examples. What add-ons did you get? Were you given proper information?

Add-Ons and Lack of Benefit
We’ll skip number two because that’s more about pricing. It makes it illegal for dealers to charge consumers for add-ons that don’t provide a benefit. If the consumer, meaning you, won’t benefit from an add-on, the dealer can’t charge for it. There are probably a lot of things on your vehicle that were add-ons. You have to get, as a dealer, consent before charging for anything. No surprise fees, no hidden charges. Dealers must get a clear and informed yes to what they’re buying and how much they’re being charged for.

Loan Balance and Improper Charges
I’m pretty sure that part of your loan balance that you owe on that car that’s upside down or out of equity are things that were charged improperly. Don’t you think? Remember, this is a federal government rule. This is a big win for consumers. You can expect established standards of truth and transparency. That’s what this is all about. This comes from the federal government.

Disclosure Requirements
And here’s the key. These add-ons that are put on top of vehicle price are not required. And the dealer has to tell you they’re not required. So, if they put on any kind of protection package or service contract, sometimes they’ll tell you it’s required. When making any representation, the dealer must clearly disclose it’s not required and the customer can buy or lease the vehicle without the add-on. The disclosure must be in writing. So, this is a big deal. Sometimes your loan amount might be 10 or 15% of it could be from these add-ons. In some cases, things like gap insurance.

Informed Consent and Documentation
When they charge you an amount of money, so if your vehicle is totaled, you don’t have to pay the negative equity, it would be illegal to charge that if there are certain exclusions built into it that don’t benefit you. This is a very important factor that a lot of people don’t know about. And here’s the big one. They have to get your informed consent about these add-ons, what the charge is for, how much it is, and how it benefits you. All the fees and costs will be charged over the period of repayment, meaning that if there’s interest on this add-on, they have to tell you about that, too.

Illegal Conduct and FTC Standards
There’s a lot of illegal conduct according to the FTC, meaning that if the document has a pre-checked box or if it distracts you from knowing what you’re getting into, if they’re talking to you or they show you something else while you have to sign it, you have to have a fully informed yes before the business can charge you. And they have to keep records of that. So, if they don’t have the records, it’s invalid.

Clear Language and Visual Requirements
Visual disclosures, fine print, dense blocks of text, or language hidden where consumers aren’t likely to see it, won’t meet the FTC’s clear and conspicuous standard. So, if you have contracts with fine print that tells you your limitations that’s smaller than where it tells you what’s good about it, it doesn’t work. And they’re going to look at things like how big the text is. Does it contrast with the background? Is it the same color as the background? Is it located where consumers will easily see it? And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t qualify.

Plain Language and No Jargon
Most importantly, it has to be in plain language. It must use words and grammar understandable to ordinary consumers. They can’t rely on the fact that you don’t understand it. So if they use industry jargon, double talk, it does not meet that standard. So let’s take a look at your paperwork to see how they worded the disclosures. Is it valid?

Waiving Rights is Prohibited
And you might think, well, the dealership made me waive my rights. They answer that question. What if a car buyer agrees to waive their protections? The rule expressly prohibits that. It’s a violation of the rule for anyone to even attempt to obtain a waiver of these protections. So, if the car dealer says, “Well, you waived your rights,” they can’t do that. They have to keep records. They have to keep records that they did all this in writing, documented for at least 24 months, probably longer depending on your state. They also have to keep records that the add-ons meet the requirements, copies of all service contracts, gap insurance, loan-to-value ratios. They have to keep everything. And if they don’t keep it, again, it’s void.

Conclusion and Consumer Action Steps
So, this is right from the horse’s mouth from the Federal Trade Commission. These are all things you need to know about when it comes to looking at methods to try to get out of your car loan. Look, you’re not going to get the car for free, right? But if you do have a vehicle you need to get rid of and maybe you owe more on it than it’s worth, these are ways you can reduce some of your principal, maybe work on getting some bids on the car that are higher. And we can work on both of those to help you get out of your car loan, sell the car to a retail buyer, or pay it off with a reduced principal and be able to get that excessive high car loan off of your monthly payment.

Final Note and Related Videos
Again, it’s no magic bullet. It doesn’t get you a free car. It doesn’t magically get your payment erased, but you have to do a little bit of work, request things, do some due diligence, file some documents, and you can attempt to make your vehicle balance be reduced so that it’s closer to what the car might be worth.

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What Is A Court Ordered Title?

What Is a Court-Ordered Title?
So, what exactly is a court-ordered title? A court-ordered title is a process in order to get a vehicle title certificate. Let’s say you bought a vehicle maybe on Craigslist or Facebook somewhere and you didn’t get the title. Maybe the seller didn’t have a certificate to give you and you try to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles or your titling agency in your state and they tell you, “No, you don’t have the right paperwork. You can’t get a title because you don’t have the last title signed over to you.” Or maybe you have it, but there’s something wrong with it.

What Is the Process Like?
What you can do is what’s called a court order title. Now, some states and counties call it a different name. They might call it a declaratory judgment or a mandamus or some other methods. And it’s a process where you file a petition in the county court where you live to have the court declare you to be the owner of the vehicle by court order. Then you bring that to the DMV and they give you a title. Now, this is an example of a document that’s created.

County-Specific Documents
For one particular county in Florida. The only bad news is the counties and the government agencies don’t have pre-made forms, right? There are three counties in the country that have some forms in Ohio. Everything else you have to do it from scratch. So you have to know how to structure this document. But the courts do know how to do these. But the problem is they can’t help you. If you go into the court and say, “Hey, I want to do a court order title.” First of all, the clerk at the window, they’re not going to know what you’re talking about because that clerk handles thousands of cases every month. And every case is different: court order titles, dog bite lawsuits, you know, my fence is too high, the divorce case, small claims court, all these different cases. So, they don’t have specific knowledge of every single type of case that comes across their desk. The clerk doesn’t do that. So you have to tell them what you want. You have to write the words.

Example Form Breakdown
And if you look at this form, it says, “Complaint for judgment.” It says that this is an action requesting a judgment involving the acquisition of a clear title for a [blank]. The plaintiff is a resident of county and so and so. And every county will have a different format for this. You’ll have to put the VIN. Look at number six. The VIN number is this. Number five, you say on this date I purchased a vehicle. And number eight, you have to tell them what actions you’ve taken to secure the title. So, you’re going to have to figure out how to put together these words. This works for certain counties the way this is structured. Other places have different requirements. But that’s what a court order title is.

Why Use a Court Order Title?
It’s like going over the head of the DMV, kind of going over their authority because the DMV, even if they wanted to give you a title, unless you bring them the old title, they’re not allowed to. But by using this process, going to their authority figure, which is the court, you can get a declaratory judgment that the court will provide to you to help the DMV give you what you want. Now, when you hear this, a lot of people think, well, is this going to be a big deal? Do I have to go to court? Is it a big hearing? Look, this is not like what you see on TV, you know, where they have a big court case like My Cousin Vinny, where there’s a judge and a jury and people. It’s not like a big thing.

It’s Not a Big Court Case
In fact, in most cases, you never have to go to court. You mail this in, let the court handle it. It’s an administrative process. They do it in the office and they mail you your documents. Sometimes they’ll even file it with the DMV for you. And there’s a way you can make that more probable.

Submitting Your Documents
Also, when it comes time to submit this document to the court, you do not want to bring it in person. What you want to do is mail it to them. And there’s a lot of reasons why, but you want to mail it to them.

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More Montana LLCs Under Enforcement

Crackdown on Montana LLCs
Breaking news. Keep an eye on this channel. This is an older article from about six months ago where California was cracking down on Montana LLCs.

State Consortium Joins the Crackdown
But there’s some news. There’s a group of states, a consortium of other states that have piggybacked on what California did. California was very successful in cracking down on these illegal Montana LLC titles and registrations.

Illegal Use and State Response
What makes it illegal is people are using it to avoid sales tax, to avoid title requirements, to avoid registration requirements such as emissions, inspections, and a whole number of other things.

Enforcement and Prosecutions
When the states started finding out about this a few years ago, they didn’t know what to do. Well, California figured out what to do. They actually came up with a system to trace these vehicles, trace them back to the owner who lives in their state, and they busted a bunch of people.

Expansion of Enforcement
A group of other states, about 28 states have joined in now, and they’re copying the same thing. So over the next few months, you’re going to see a whole bunch of rollouts of prosecutions, regulation, and enforcement against these plates.

Legal Issues for Non-Residents
A lot of people think it’s legal because it’s legal to get a registration in Montana, which is legal in Montana. The problem is if you are a resident of another state and you title it out of state in Montana through an LLC, you’re more than likely violating your state laws on taxes, on registering a vehicle in your state, and on avoiding different types of requirements.

ALPR and Tracking
How do they find you? Well, there are a number of ways they do, but here’s one of them. They have what’s called ALPR—license plate readers. They’re cameras all over the place. They’re on street signs. They’re in parking lots. They’re on police cars. They’re on taxi cabs. They’re everywhere.

Enforcement Tactics
They’re monitoring every plate that drives by. If they see a Montana plate go by on a regular basis over the course of a few weeks or a few months, they know that’s not just somebody visiting the state from Montana on vacation.

Investigation and Consequences
So if, let’s say, you live in Texas and you have a Montana LLC license plate, they’re going to see that plate go past a certain place on your way to work or at a gas station. Then what they’re going to do is file a request for the records of that license plate in Montana.

State Responses and Future Developments
If they see it’s under an LLC, they’re going to back-trace the LLC and they know where you go because you drive by the same intersection every day. They’re going to have you pulled over and they’re going to do an investigation—this is what they did in California.

Future Developments and Advice
They’re going to charge you with back taxes, penalties, revoke your plate, maybe revoke your title, and in some cases even seize your vehicle. So keep an eye on this channel for some news coming out over the next few weeks or months where these other states—we’re hearing feedback from the DMV commissioners and their offices—other states are following the lead of California and getting rid of this so-called loophole about getting license plates.

Resolution and Further Information
Remember, if you have a vehicle title problem, there are many easier ways than doing the Montana process. It may seem like it’s appealing because you’re doing some kind of backdoor loophole, but it really takes more time and costs more money than just going through a process in your state.

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